Todd Paluch and Jim Didier inspected fire doors at The Moorings in Arlington Heights, IL
The Moorings, a health care center with independent senior living, continuing care, and rehabilitation services, located on a beautifully landscaped 45-acre campus in the heart of Chicago’s northwest suburbs, recently contacted Anderson Lock to schedule a fire door inspection.
Compliance with NFPA 80 2016 Standard for Fire Doors is required for accreditation by The Joint Commission and by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to receive Medicare reimbursement. These standards require fire-rated doors be tested for functionality no less than annually, and a written record of the inspection and repairs be readily available to be provided to the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), upon request.
We sent two of our three certified Fire Door Assembly Inspectors (FDAI) to inspect 60+ fire doors at the large, well-maintained facility. Todd Paluch and Jim Didier carefully searched each opening for open holes or breaks in surfaces of either the door or the frame, (which could have resulted from a screw coming loose and falling out); scrutinized door hardware and vision frames to assure there were no broken or missing parts; then measured door clearances.
Vince Connelly, The Moorings facility manager, called Anderson Lock when he learned that he would need a written record from a certified FDAI inspector for an upcoming accreditation inspection. “Anderson Lock dropped everything to get their inspectors over here in a hurry,” Connelly said.
Fire doors are designed to aid in the compartmentalization of a building to stop the spread of flames, smoke and toxic fumes. Our inspectors made sure that gasketing and edge seals, where required, were verified for their presence and integrity. They validated that latching hardware operated and secured the door when the door was in the closed position. If the door was not securely latching, they evaluated whether it was the result of a faulty latch or door misalignment.
Todd and Jim also checked to see if any auxiliary hardware, like kick-down door stops, had been installed which would interfere with, or prohibit, the fire door’s operation. They confirmed that labels and signage met code requirements. If the labels are missing or painted over, the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) may require that they be replaced or inspected and re-certified by a credentialed laboratory. They made sure that no fire doors were blocked or obstructed.
Failure to properly maintain fire door assemblies violates building and fire codes, and any deficiencies noted during the inspection process must be repaired “without delay.”
Fire door inspectors provide inspection and documentation services only. However, after Todd and Jim’s inspection report was submitted and reviewed, The Moorings again contacted Anderson Lock’s Service Department to schedule our experienced door and lock technicians to make necessary repairs, assuring that every fire door in the huge facility was restored to code-compliance.
Connelly thanked the inspectors and technicians when he reported that The Moorings inspection went well, and said, “We are always very happy with the work Anderson Lock does for us.”